Please help: need anesthesia info by Monday

Hi girls,

I've been searching the boards tonight looking for info on your anesthesia and pain-relief experiences, and can't find the posts I remember reading before the holiday hoopla hit last week. Can you please help?

I'm scheduled for a vag hyst this Monday (1/3/05), and the doc just said to talk with the anesthesiologist about my preferences regarding anesthesia. I get the impression he wants me to decide, and he wants to stay out of that part of the deal. Well, I'm not sure WHAT I prefer! I do recall getting VERY sick (mostly tummy) years ago with general anesthesia, and feeling spacey for weeks and weeks afterward. I really hated it!

So, if there are any of you who can share your experiences with general or other anesthesia and post-hyst pain meds that you feel worked well, please post !!! Seems to me there was some great info on the boards about epidurals, spinals, and anti-inflammatories...can you please help before my Monday op?

THANKS in advance, ladies...blessings and a happy new year to all of you!

Amoreena

Usually, unless a DR has a specific preference about anesthesia, the anesthesiologist and the patient decide what is best for the particular patient. I had a TAH and my DR said she doesn't perform that type surgery with anything other than a general, so I didn't have an option.

I also had no choice about the anesthesia. I had wisdom teeth pulled years ago and was very ill from the anesthesia so I mentioned it to the anesthesiologist and he gave me medication before surgery. He said sometimes it does not work but in my case it worked great and I had no nausea after surgery. I have an adverse reaction to pain medications so I opted for Motrin which worked great for me but everyone is different.

Sue

I had anethesia but also asked for them to put med in for nausea because I am sometimes nauseated after anethesia. Worked great. i also asked for a spinal. They did this while I was still out right after the surgery was completed. The other thing I had was for my incision (abd) which I see that you are having vag hyst. so you do not need to worry about that part. I was in no pain during my hospital stay (2 days). I didnt feel out of it either. I am not sure what kind of meds I recieved through my IV after surgery (I know it was not morphine) I was also given Naproxen and Anaprox for home. Hope this helps!! Lori

Tell everything that you told us to the anesthesiologist. They have several options and medications and the best thing you could do is to tell him or her what has happened with anesthesia in the past. Very important: if you or a family member has an allergy or any other kind of adverse reaction to ANY medication, let them know.

I had incredible nausea with the anesthesia, too. Everything made me throw up - including the anti-nausea medicine. And it went on for a day and a half. Then the whole body itching started. But it was the best stuff to use for my codeine allergy and my operation.

Just give the anesthesiologist all the information you have, and let him take it from there.

Oh my gosh, I had the whole body itching thing too. That was probably the only bad thing that happened during my stay at the castle. I scratched so much that I had scabs!! They gave me benadryl and that helped. Said that the reaction was from the spinal. Lori

Hello Amoreena, I had the worst experience this time with anastesia. I have had general anestesia 3 times prior to my TAH-BSO,The first time I awoke very nauseated, the 2nd and 3rd I informed the anestesiologist that I get very nauseated and to please take all measures to prevent this, it was not a problem, I woke up feeling groggy but that was about it. As for this time It was absolutly horible. My dr talked me in to having a spinal with combination of light general just so I would not hear anything going on around me. when I first woke up it was ok because I was still num from the spinal, but after that wore of I itched so bad That all I could do was cry, they said it would ware off in 12 hours, but that was not the case, 3 days of pure hell. If my dr had left orders for me to get benydryl every 4 hours It would have been tolerable but getting meds was like pulling teeth. I will never ever have another spinal again I would much rather throw up, even as much as I hate that as to go through that itching again. This is only my experience, and everyone is different,but if you do decide on spinal make sure your dr has benedryl ordered for you. good luck

So tomorrow's the day! Good for you!

I had General Anesthesia--I was worried too about being nauseous (throwing up with a painful incision just didn't sound like a fun trip). I spoke to the A. man before surgery and asked him to PLEASE do whatever it took so that I wouldn't be nauseous. It worked. The only time I was a bit queezy was when they brought my first meal. I just wasn't ready. They didn't make me eat it, and I was fine. The next morning I was famished!

For pain relief they alternated between Demerol (a narcotic pain med) and Toradol (a very strong Anti-Inflammatory). They both worked, but I felt more "normal" with the Toradol. (no grogginess) The demerol pretty much put me to sleep--which was ok too for the first day...

One thing that happened (normal) that I never expected was that my throat was dry and hoarse--not really sore, just "rough"--from the tube they put down the throat. I sounded like a frog for the first day! Overall, my experience was very positive. Be sure to chat with the A-man in pre-op. GOOD LUCK!!!

Tell your anestheologist what your past experiences have been and what you want to avoid. I had no previous experiences to draw from so couldn't give him much input. Had problems with hypotension and nausea after surgery. Even being really out of it and in pain, I wasn't pushing the morphine pump which made me really sick to my stomach. They gave me something in the IV to help with that, but have since decided from my hospital and home experience, I want to avoid narcotics if at all possible in the future.

If you tell them what has happened in the past they can come up with alternatives that will work for you.

Good luck tomorrow!

Sara

Amoreena,
hi i am 3 days post op. i had a tvh and kept my ovaries. i had the general and was not so nauseated(sp?) my main worry was waking up before i was supposed to. which of course did not happen. they should be able to give you something to help with the nausea associated with the general. after surgery i had morphine (cause the pain was out of control when i woke up), which they alternated with toradol.i was only groggy that first night. in the early morning they started me on oral pain meds. perkaset i think and still the toradol. afer i got home i started on my vicoden that my dr prescribed. she has me taking it every 4 hours with ibprophen. i am not really having any pain now. i have cut my vicoden intake by half. i only need one now instead of two. i feel great but tired. anyway do not worry it will be over before you know it. good luck and i will see you on the post op side.!!